Independent Living Archive

More prescription medications now come in generic versions. But do you ever choose savings over quality?

 Image: AlonsoAguilar /Thinkstock

Medication can be an unpredictable and costly expense. Whether it is short-term treatment or multiple drugs you take indefinitely, prescriptions can have a serious impact on your wallet.

Nowadays there are many generic versions of brand-name drugs that are often significantly less expensive. There are generic drugs to treat most common ailments, such as pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, and depression.

Opioid painkillers are commonly prescribed for chronic low back pain. However, a new study suggests that the drugs offer only modest, short-term relief, and should probably be used in conjunction with nondrug therapies or different drugs. 

Research has found that people with high levels of the oral bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis had a 59% greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer. It is too early to say whether this specific bacterium directly contributes to the disease. However, one theory is that since inflammation is related to cancer, the bacteria could cause inflammation in the pancreas. Another possibility is the bacteria are simply a marker for cancer-causing inflammation.